Letters

Forward thinking

BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:10:08 GMT

Letters to the Boston editor, November 14, 2008

Years ago, as a police officer in Texas, I lived by one very simple rule (as do most police officers) when I stopped someone for a traffic violation. I either wrote a ticket or I bitched at the person for being stupid. But never both.

I've found this is sound advice in life. So while I understand the giddiness of the winning populace after the election, I do not understand the vitriol that has been thrown on the Bush administration after this wonderful win.

We should be celebrating a victory for democracy, not chasing the last administration out with insults and jeers. As Plato said, "Every form of government tends to perish by excess of its basic principle." Whether the excesses of the Bush era will show him as the "worst" president ever or not, it's not really for us to say. The fact is that the terrorism that put a stranglehold on this country a few months after Bush took office required action. There is no way to know how excessive that action was, or whether a different course would have produced different results. The one thing we do know is that our new president inherits a country that has had no terrorist acts on its soil since 9/11, and only 10 percent of voters polled at this year's election thought it was even an issue.

Let's let the last administration be. We voted. We wrote a ticket. That's enough. Celebrate history, and then move forward.

Because yes, there's a lot of work to be done.

Bob Heruska
Cambridge

Out with the old
Regarding "Obama Redraws the Map": with Rahm Emanuel's appointment to White House chief of staff, it appears Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean's "50 state strategy" is kaput. The congressman from Illinois was adamantly against the Dean strategy, and was party to a shouting match with DNC apparatchik Donna Brazile in the halls of the DNC around the concept. Emanuel felt money should be targeted to certain needy states only. Others, including former Massachusetts Democratic Party chairman Phil Johnston, opted to roll with Dean's point of view — a spread-the-wealth thing. You go, Rahm; yes, you can!

Jeffry McNary
Cambridge

Scary, indeed
I'm surprised "The 25 Scariest Conservatives" is in the "Talking Politics" section, it really ought to be in the humor section. This whole article is a joke, and at the same time a glowing endorsement for every person mentioned here. In fact, the higher up the list, the more I am going to pay attention to them. This kind of trash is the reason why liberal newspapers and news stations are losing money out the wazoo. It's no coincidence that NBC had to cut $500 million from the budget. Something must be turning people away from watching NBC and MSNBC. Hmm . . . can you say Keith Olbermann? David S. Bernstein, if you keep writing stuff like this, your next big line will be: "Would you like fries with that?"

Defy Shepard Fairey

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:12:02 GMT

Letters to the Boston editor, November 7, 2008
There is nothing radical about Shepard Fairey. There is nothing guerilla about Shepard Fairey.

Beyond a joke

BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:16:20 GMT

Letters to the Boston editor, October 31, 2008
Your recent “Chick Schtick” article contained a very interesting and revealing line.

Your recent “Chick Schtick” article contained a very interesting and revealing line: “Some, like Boston comedian Bethany Van Delft, think it’s not the concept but the context that made Bernhard’s material so controversial. ‘Bernhardt’s words were irresponsible — not as a comedian, but as a woman. . . . If she’d wished gang rape on John McCain, I would laugh.’ ”

So, Ms. Van Delft thinks that raping a woman is never acceptable, but that raping a man — especially brutally, as in a gang rape — is funny. Right here and now, in the era of finally raised awareness about rape, and in the era of AIDS, Ms. Van Delft would yuk it up, because it happened to, like, you know, a man. Ha!

Let me advise you, Ms. Van Delft, that raping a man, even if he normally bottoms in anal sex, is not one iota more acceptable than raping a woman who normally engages in vaginal sex. Rape is rape, an act of violence — not something out there for your amusement. Your remark is offensive and indefensible.

William Fregosi
Raymond, New Hampshire

Ineffective avengers
I am no fan of the Church of Scientology’s use of nonprofit tax exemptions on behalf of a relentlessly profit-oriented business model, even less of their abusive litigiousness. Nevertheless, Anonymous’s tactics are ineffective, even harmful. First, masks have shameful associations in US political culture, from the Ku Klux Klan to modern left-wing extremists. Second, trespassing and disruption of events on private property are likely to generate sympathy for the target.

Better would be to campaign for legal reforms — that is, make those (including lawyers) who file frivolous lawsuits (or any kind of lawsuit against First Amendment speech) fully liable for the defense costs of their victims.

Hugo S. Cunningham
Boston

EDITOR’S NOTE Anonymous operative Gregg Housh, who we profiled in “Battling Scientology,” is out of trouble with Boston Municipal Court and the Church of Scientology — at least for now. On October 22, he agreed to a continuance without a finding, which includes one year of probation and a 100-yard restraining order from the Beacon Street Church of Scientology. Housh faces up to one year in prison if he violates those terms.

Touching tribute
I believe Margaret Doris caught the real Alan Lupo in her piece on the passing of that true journalism legend. His words were truly music, as he composed so many great stories about life in Boston.

Choosing my religion

BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 20:47:28 GMT

Letters to the Boston editor, October 24, 2008
There’s nothing that strikes me as heroic or important about Gregg Housh’s farcical jihad against Scientology.

Choosing my religion
There’s nothing that strikes me as heroic or important about Gregg Housh’s farcical jihad against Scientology. In my opinion, it symbolizes the hollow nature of the post-modern, Starbucks-friendly protest. Obviously, the ideas and precepts associated with Scientology are ridiculous, but let’s get real: it’s tremendously hypocritical for people to fight against the detrimental nature of some Hollywood fringe religion while ignoring the ills of the major ones. Anyone with half a brain knows that any of the top monotheisms is responsible for more death and destruction in a given week than you can pin on the entire history of Scientology.

Scientology is a convenient target because it has yet to log enough followers to be considered a religion instead of a cult. Domestic ridicule of religion is largely a numbers game. If someone wanted to fight important, distressing fusions of God and politics, they would be fighting against the evangelical position on condoms in Africa, the oppression of women in Afghanistan, or the destruction of Palestinian homes. I don’t understand why I should be handed banal literature about the bullshit that Tom Cruise believes while I try to board the subway. To quote Joe Strummer, I don’t want to hear about what the rich are doing.

Mike Arria
Cambridge

Gregg Housh is a bit like what the article stated: “Paul Revere and Web savvy.” It’s too bad this organization, a so-called church, outed him and no doubt has started yet another long, litigious bullying campaign against him.

People must read more of these articles, and then do some research. The best way is to watch videos (available everywhere) made by ex-Scientologists, made by mainstream media, made by long-time critics, and made by Anonymous. They have been trying to educate the masses for years, even while the Church of Scientology has spent a lot of time and money suppressing freedom of speech. We should all listen to what is being said.

Wendy Tocan
Toronto, Ontario

Conventional wisdom
Thanks for reporting on the disgrace at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. Unfortunately, political repression is becoming institutionalized at both parties’ conventions. Boston actually led the way in that respect, when it hosted the first presidential nominating convention since the terrorist attacks in 2001. The Feds turned our city into a police state.

During the Democratic National Convention here, I was racially profiled by the Secret Service. (See “Idling While Brown,” News and Features, September 3, 2004.) In the illegal arrest, they pulled me out of an anti-war march, shoved me down an alley, and put me in handcuffs. Then the Secret Service hauled me off to the police station near Government Center. To defend my constitutional rights, I have filed a lawsuit. In federal court, my attorneys are really achieving some accountability.

Stopped, dropped, and rolled

BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 04:23:40 GMT

Letters to the Boston editor, October 17, 2008
I’d like to thank and commend Adam Reilly for writing about the journalists arrested covering the Republican convention in St. Paul.

I’d like to thank and commend Adam Reilly for writing about the journalists arrested covering the Republican convention in St. Paul. I am only now hearing about this. How outrageous! Mr. Reilly did a nice job exploring the whole episode and showing how ridiculous it is for the news media to downplay this.

A First Amendment Partisan from the Mainstream Media,
Robert McClure
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Most of what Adam Reilly says regarding the Republican National Convention is spot-on. But why should we journalists have more rights than the people who were demonstrating?

As in New York four years ago, so it appears in St. Paul: scores of people were arrested, and some roughed up in the process, for exercising their constitutional rights. In New York, the police were found to have lied in arrest reports and affidavits. And the authorities have admitted that they infiltrated anti-war organizations — as if being against the war and wanting to say so publicly is somehow dangerous and unlawful.

So, yes, we should be outraged that reporters have been such timid watchdogs. But we should also be outraged at the larger issue: that speaking out has been turned into a criminal offense.

Robert Neuwirth
Brooklyn, New York

Jumping the bailout
My response to your recent text question “Will the Wall Street Bailout Benefit You?” is “absolutely no.”

This bailout will hurt me, my family, and most of my friends. Help the housing market? We don’t own homes. Help the credit industry? We don’t borrow money. Help the economy? My personal economy is better than ever.

People need to stop panicking, and start paying off their debts.

Michael J. Meiners
Gardner

Underwhelming feedback
This might seem like a petty complaint considering the financial collapse of the country’s economic system, the ridiculous back-and-forth communications about nothingness, and a presidential ticket that features an old Republican who is confused and a young Republican who believes man lived with dinosaurs 6000 years ago.

Yet I have to take Ryan Stewart to task for his review of the Meat Puppets/Dinosaur Jr./Built to Spill show. Mr. Stewart has every right to his opinion, but obviously needs his entertainment quick and as settled as the MTV generation is accustomed to.

This is the reunion of the original Dinosaur Jr., which I doubt from his review Mr. Stewart even saw in its prime. That Lou Barlow blabbed like a fool is a given. Yes, “The Wagon,” “Out There,” and “Feel the Pain” are great songs, but what was great about the three first Dinosaur albums was the orchestration, the start and stop, the big blob of noise and feedback, and most especially the guitar solos J Mascis brought back to rock. Underrated? Sounds like a pop baby or crybaby needing instant entertainment.

Thugs on parade

BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 03:31:36 GMT

Letters to the Boston editor, October 10, 2008
I would like to commend Anne Elizabeth Moore on a fantastic job of reporting from the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.

I would like to commend Anne Elizabeth Moore on a fantastic job of reporting from the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. But I also want to point out that her comments about anarchists being unlikely to target people with cameras might be a bit shortsighted. Given everything else the authorities have done to make life as difficult as possible for protesters at these sorts of events, it should come as no surprise that many anarchists and black-bloc participants are (probably justifiably) paranoid that their photographs will be used by authorities to identify them. By the time I witnessed the UMass-Boston protests during the first presidential debate in 2000, many had adapted to this reality by using kerchiefs to cover up their faces. Still, I was firmly told “No pictures” time and time again, that night and since. Not that I can blame them.

Neil Dempsey
Brighton

It is terrible that this brutal suppression of protesters and journalists could take place in America without resulting in much reporting or outrage. However, I think that it is needlessly partisan to call this “Republican Thugocracy.” This has nothing to do with party affiliation or the fact that this happened at the Republican National Convention. This is what happens when the people turn over too much power to any police force. When unchecked authority and privileges are given to the police in the name of “law and order,” this is the inevitable result.

Dash Murthi
Boston

Thunder from down under
You’re a terrible critic, Richard Beck. To give Okkervil River’s new record, The Stand Ins, one and a half stars — the kind of review a record by someone of Britney Spears’s caliber would receive — shows sheer ignorance on your part. You’re reviewing the music — I don’t care if you disagree with the sentiment or not. It’s interesting that you are the sole critic I have seen who reviewed this album and panned it. Clearly, you’re just delirious because your ego has inflated to a size larger than your pretentiousness.

“Poor intelligence”? In regards to singer Will Sheff? Regardless of the meaning of the lyrics, they themselves are brilliant. Very few songwriters can weave a story into a song as well as he can. Nine out of 10 for me.

Laurence Barber
Brisbane, Australia

Maybe we’re the crazy ones
I was shocked to see the Phoenix editorial page attack the only three Massachusetts representatives who realized the bill bails out the perpetrators of financial fraud rather then the victims. Do we again have to wait eight years to hear the truth? A fourth estate that trusts this administration more than it trusts the people is superfluous. This country can not afford that many more trillion dollar mistakes. If Wall Street needs money, our candidates should start by giving back all the campaign contributions they received from Wall Street.

Harold Wells made up this headline, too

BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:46:21 GMT

Letters to the Boston editor, September 26, 2008

'Tote Board' is destroying America?

BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:35:58 GMT

Letters to the Boston editor, September 19, 2008
Steven Stark, I want you to look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself this question: what good does your column do for voters?

Steven Stark, I want you to look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself this question: what good does your column do for voters?

The horse-race style “coverage” is handled well enough in the corporate media. Do you really think your stats and pontifications — which seem to be nothing more than a redux of 24-hour news coverage — add anything of any value to the mix?

Does your column help us to understand the platforms of the candidates? Does it help us to understand the root causes of the issues that we face in our daily lives?

Rehashing polls done by corporate-owned news media, with margins of error large enough that they are statistically insignificant, does not aid the average voter who is struggling to pay the bills and is looking for real solutions to the problems they face in their life.

Why not give us something to think about?

The inane fluff you publish distracts from the fact that there’s a war going on. The US government is trillions of dollars in debt; we have a growing trade deficit with just about everybody; the Federal Reserve is destroying the power of the US dollar; and in America nine times the number of people who died on 9/11 die every year simply because they lack access to adequate health care, or were denied coverage.

Both McCain and Obama both want to put your tax dollars directly in the pocket of health-insurance corporations. But of course, you’re not going to let us know about that. You’re just going to tell us what we think about gaffes, petty branding disputes (Change? Hope? Puppies? Apple Pie?), and other such drama more appropriate to high-school lunchrooms.

Asher Platts
Gorham, Maine

STEVEN STARK RESPONDS While I don’t agree with all the particulars of your note, I agree strongly with the thrust: there is too much horse-race coverage. I try to be different in my takes and, in fact, don’t read much of what’s out there. But if I’m just repeating the same things others are, as you contend, then I’m truly sorry. That is unforgivable.

In my blog, I’ve tried to open things up to other voices and opinions, on the ground that I’m hardly the last word on anything. I’d be delighted to have you submit a post so that you feel your opinions and take on things is better represented.

A fitting tribute

BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:25:39 GMT

Letters to the Boston editor: September 12, 2008

Your recent cover article “Death of a Hoop Dream” was outstanding — really well-constructed and heartfelt without overdoing it. It passed the compassion-fatigue test and moved me to tears. (And I fear I may have some serious compassion fatigue to overcome. In the three years I’ve lived in Boston, reading the news, walking the streets, putting in shifts at the homeless shelter, etc., I’ve never felt as genuinely moved by the bad stuff that happens around here as I felt reading your article.) I sincerely hope that those in positions of social and civic authority read your article and feel similarly moved.

Excellent journalism!

Catherine Merrick
Cambridge

What women want
In the recent article “Women on the Verge,” David S. Bernstein wrote that Democratic women are increasingly dismissive of the bipartisan approach of the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus (MWPC). He cites the example of our organization’s endorsement of Kerry Healy in 2006, and describes Healey as “a woman with whom they shared zero political ideology.” That statement is not true and is unfair to our organization.

The MWPC works diligently to endorse candidates who have the same political positions on the issues that matter deeply to women, such as those on choice, civil rights, workplace equality, domestic violence, and family issues. There was never an issue in considering Deval Patrick for endorsement because we do not endorse men. Per our endorsement requirements, Healey filled out a questionnaire and was interviewed by our Political Action Committee comprised of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans. She received a resounding “yes” vote for endorsement due to her like-minded positions on the issues.

Indeed, MWPC’s strength is in our bipartisan nature. Clearly, more needs to be done to elect women to public office and we are in the middle of an election season that we hope will bring more women to represent us on Beacon Hill. In this era of polarization among political parties, MWPC stands out as a model of inclusiveness and one that welcomes all who want to advance women in elected office.

Pam Nourse, Democratic Co-Chair
Ann Murphy, Republican Co-Chair
MWPC Political Action Committee

DAVID S. BERNSTEIN RESPONDS: I wrote that “many” Democratic women, not the MWPC as an organization, had nothing ideologically in common with Kerry Healey — which is precisely what many Democratic women said to me when discussing the caucus. They were also particularly dismayed to have MWPC’s stamp of feminist approval on a candidate who was running, in their opinion, offensive advertisements that sought to use the threat of being raped in a parking garage to scare women into voting against Deval Patrick. Nourse and Murphy are understandably proud of the MWPC’s inclusiveness across party lines; my article points out that an increasing number of women are concluding that inclusiveness does not necessarily result in effectiveness.

Change we can still believe in

BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:23:46 GMT

Letters to the Boston editor, September 5, 2008
Steven Stark is right to remind us that the presidential race isn’t a done deal.

Steven Stark is right to remind us that the presidential race isn’t a done deal. Barack Obama has already cleared many hurdles in his historic bid for the presidency, yet many remain. Further, as Stark points out, it would be a mistake to count out John McCain. But Stark undermines his argument by presenting dubious evidence to suggest that Obama’s odds are less favorable than we might think.

First, how Obama performs on Election Day has nothing to do with what state he calls home. After all, the Republicans didn’t fare too well the last time an Arizona senator headed the presidential ticket (Barry Goldwater in 1964).

Second, Stark says that no candidate in the primary era has won the presidency after failing to win more than one of the nation’s seven largest states’ primary or caucuses. He neglects to point out that in previous years, the presumptive nominees were determined before Pennsylvania and Texas had the opportunity to vote.

Further, political scientists dispute the National Journal’s claim that Obama was the most liberal Democrat in 2007. Instead, compelling evidence that considers all of the roll-call votes cast shows that Obama (and Clinton) is just to the left of the average Democratic member of the 110th Congress.

Whether Obama’s political “inexperience” will work against him remains an open question. The winning presidential candidates in 1960, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 all had less “political experience” than their opponents. And indeed this year, there appears to be a rising tide against the traditional metric of political experience.

Jon Rogowski
Brookline

But you’re still cool with China, right?
Very amusing, Sara Faith Alterman, but you dropped some clues that you barely visited Beijing, and are mainly reporting stereotypes and dribble. I lived in Beijing for five weeks in March through April of this year, and walked, took taxis and the subway, rode the bus and my bicycle all over the city. There are no giant Mao statues randomly scattered around Beijing. You don’t have to have been there to know this, just have to know something about China (see discussion about removal of statues, New York Times, April 15, 1988). Your second clue was more subtle: there are no cereal boxes in China! (Or very few, imported, in Western-style supermarkets — that’s our kinda food, girlfriend.)

Your “observations” make me wonder where this anger is coming from — are Americans afraid of China? Resentful? Anxious about the future? So much that we vomit mean-spirited bile and say things like this (and I wish I were kidding):

High times in Canada

BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:16:53 GMT

Letters to the Boston editor, August 29, 2008
Two weeks ago, we ran a story about how the seemingly tranquil, inoffensive, and pristine little Canadian province of Prince Edward Island was actually a relative hotbed of marijuana growing.

Two weeks ago, we ran a story about how the seemingly tranquil, inoffensive, and pristine little Canadian province of Prince Edward Island was actually a relative hotbed of marijuana growing. Since the story ran, it has exploded into an international We Said/Canadians Said — the fricking Minister of Tourism of Prince Edward Island blasted us, and scores of Canadians seemed outraged that the Phoenix deigned to replace the beloved maple leaf on their flag with a leaf that is entirely more smokable. Here is a sampling of the outraged comments, followed by a response from the author, Alan R. Earls.

I imagine you’ve received a fair amount of criticism regarding your article on the “explosion” of marijuana production on Prince Edward Island, and your editor, on the Canadian Broadcasting Company, promised some corrections in the next issue, but he didn’t suggest a withdrawal of the “explosive” image you created.

I’m a fairly recent immigrant to PEI, so I have no long-standing attachment. Accurate reporting is still important to me — in fact, reporting that isn’t accurate can hardly be described as reporting at all, can it? More like fiction. Still, I want to thank you for enlivening the Island’s image — even at the expense of accuracy. I understand many visitors ask to see Anne-You-Know-Who’s [of the Green Gables] gravesite, and fail to grasp she never was; a fiction, like the main premise of your article.

“Defiantly dry” communities? Only when the rain don’t fall. Two hundred and fifty marijuana plants seized, compared with 200 last year? Wow! We’re going big-time, eh? Inexpensive electricity from Quebec? Take a peek at my power bill, and weep for me as you take another drag.

Would you mind if I start a campaign to have you given an honourary (forgive my quaint spelling) citizenship for enlivening PEI’s rather staid image? We’re obviously more “with it,” exciting, and “lurid” than I ever imagined. The “Gentle Island” image was never to my liking. The tourism industry’s late blooming will no doubt be attributable to your sexing up the place. The new flag was a stroke of genius.

Good luck in the future, and keep up the creative writing. Maybe you missed your calling.

Glen Armstrong
Prince Edward Island, Canada

Obviously this guy has never been to PEI! Once again another American who doesn’t have a clue about Canada. Worry about your own gun-ridden, crack-infested country and having a complete moron for a president.

Dave Lauzon
British Columbia, Canada

Joke's on whom?

BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:46:23 GMT

Letters to the Boston editor, August 22, 2008
Harvey Silverglate’s article is the sort of thing that should be saved for occasions when people who may be offended by humor need to be advised to calm down.

Harvey Silverglate’s well-researched and written article “Parody Flunks Out," about the now-legendary New Yorker Obama cover, is the sort of thing that should be saved, as indeed I have, for occasions when people who may be offended by humor need to be advised to calm down. Or, as we used to say at WEEI-FM whenever someone called to complain, “Fuck ’em if he can’t take a joke.”

I think, however, that there is an important asterisk that needs to be added to Harvey’s essay on Barry Blitt’s illustration: the cover didn’t work. I’m not saying it was in bad taste. Okay, maybe it was, but so what? The real problem is that it was ineffective as satire. As they say in comedy circles, “If you gotta explain it, the joke’s no good.”

Without wasting 1000 words to deconstruct a single picture, I’ll offer that satire only works if the reasonable observer understands what’s being satirized. That’s why the Vanity Fair parody of the New Yorker cover was so brilliant: it didn’t need to be explained. The New Yorker cover, by the magazine’s own admission, satirized not the Obamas but people’s misconceptions about them.

Satire is generally a lie that tells a greater truth. The cover was a lie based upon a lie, and you had to send out for truth. One level too many. As Chris Miller of the National Lampoon once said, “It isn’t enough for a joke to be in bad taste — it also has to be funny.”

I recall in, I think, 1975, there was a similar to-do at the Village Voice. Jules Feiffer ran a strip in which an Archie Bunker–type swilled from a can of beer and lamented, “I can’t say kike any more. I can’t say fag any more. About the only thing I can say any more is nigger.” Predictably, the Voice’s letters column went crazy. Some people correctly grokked that Feiffer was satirizing how even bigoted society had begun to change but had remained essentially racist. But most letter-writers damned the Voice for publishing the “N” word, period, saying that doing so legitimized its acceptance. Yet Feiffer did what Blitt did not, which was put the cause and effect in the same place.

Just as one needs a separate volume today to understand the now-outdated satirical references in Gulliver’s Travels, Alice in Wonderland, or The Wizard of Oz, so one needed to have the New Yorker cover explained. You couldn’t get it even if you tried. (Didn’t Sam Goldwyn once say that subtlety is fine as long as it’s obvious?) Instead, everybody has wasted a lot of ink and time reviewing the messenger instead of the message. Um, including me.

Fear and loathing

LETTERS TO THE BOSTON EDITOR — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:26:11 GMT

Letters to the Boston Editor, August 15, 2008
In the first two pages of the article, Miliard managed to capture the quintessence of Hunter S. Thompson’s lifeblood.

Allow me to open by crediting Mike Miliard for “Where has all the Gonzo Gone?” (News and Features, July 25). In the first two pages of the article, Miliard managed to capture the quintessence of Hunter S. Thompson’s lifeblood. He also took a distinctive look at a somewhat hackneyed subject in a day and age when it seems like everyone who once brushed elbows with Dr. Gonzo is writing a book about the event. The piece was well-researched and eloquently written.

But my fancy quickly ebbed when I turned to the second page and saw Matt Taibbi’s sheepish grin, alongside a comparison with Thompson. I was even more chagrined by Taibbi’s faux assurances that he’s not trying to usurp with his drivel the fallen mantle of a truly inspirational author.

Taibbi claims he’s unique. He prattles on about how “embarrassed” he is each time a book critic or reporter likens him with Thompson. Yet all these assertions seem a bit contrived when Rolling Stone’s Jann Wenner has done just about everything in his power to connect Taibbi’s destiny with Thompson’s legacy. This forced linkage was never clearer than when Thompson’s mug graced the September 2007 cover of the magazine along with a campaign-trail article Taibbi attempted to write in the good doctor’s voice. Instead of recreating the Prada of prose, he penned his own cheap knock-off akin to something you’d expect to find at a sidewalk bizarre.

Sure, Taibbi’s writing looks real to the undiscerning eye. For the rest of us, it’s nothing but a sad reminder of the piss-poor quality of product produced by brazen, unabashed scam artists. While imitation is often considered the deepest form of flattery, Taibbi’s writing does a tap dance on the still-fresh grave of a true American rebel. It’s a shame Miliard couldn’t see through his despicable charade.

Justin Mason
Saratoga Springs, New York

IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER
Many thanks for Greg Cook’s frank and insightful article about the rise of the Peabody Essex Museum. (See “Peabody Rising,” News and Features, July 25.) I have one comment to offer about comparing the exhibitions of different museums. When organizing theme shows with numerous loans, the playing field is not level. For example, the MFA finds it easier to secure loans than PEM because it has a broader, deeper collection that allows it to make reciprocal loans down the line. In the case of “Painting Summer in New England,” the checklist changed dramatically because of the strenuous loan process.

Facebook follies

LETTERS TO THE BOSTON EDITOR — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:35:07 GMT

Letters to the Boston editor, August 8, 2008
I’d rather live with Facebook than without!

Facebook follies
I’m still chuckling to myself thinking about how true the “Not-So-Pretty Facebook” article (News and Features, July 18) rang. Seriously, why are we friending people on this medium that we barely knew in high school, or maybe didn’t even like? And why the need to broadcast every last feeling, thought, meal ate, song heard, and heartbreak to our current status?

It’s absurd, and yet when I log onto Facebook in the morning before I start my day, it feels like walking into a big party where I know everyone there. It’s also a fun distraction, but there is a balance to be achieved, of course, between “tastemaking” and oversharing.

Put in its proper place (I’m not including the time I couldn’t sleep and was up at 4 am adding flair to my profile), at this point, I’d rather live with Facebook than without! Thanks for all the truisms and the Friday laugh.
Rachel Lombardo
Manchester-by-the-Sea

It seems Sharon Steel’s issues are not with Facebook, but with her own high school–esque insecurities. While everyone would agree that Facebook is a gossip fest, it seems she dedicates entirely too much time and thought to her social-networking-site presence.

I’ve never stressed over what people would think of me based on my profiles, even when my psycho older sister and my former boss added me as a friend. My privacy levels are set so that potential employers can’t search for me on either site, but I still posted the pictures of me in a pink cowboy hat at the recent Gay Pride parade! These sites are for fun and keeping in touch with faraway friends, a point the author seems to have forgotten. I read the article a few times looking for a hint of sarcasm but didn’t find any; I’m hoping Ms. Steel exaggerated her Facebook woes to make a better story.

There are more legitimate concerns about Facebook, a great example being their creepy online tracking system that posted what you purchased from certain Web sites. I was none too happy to be a member of a site that employed a 1984 Big Brother marketing feature. It was highly protested and I believe it has been removed, but who knows what they’ll come up with next?
Theresa Condito
Somerville

I read your Facebook article with interest, but it seemed overblown to me. Folks like Emily Gould and Julia Allison would be overwrought oversharers with or without the Internet. And people who lament over Internet insecurities probably are insecure in other aspects of life, too.

Campaign lies

BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:31:51 GMT

Letters to the Boston editor, August 1, 2008
It’s impressive that your editorial in favor of the national popular vote did not even hint at any possible downside.

It’s impressive that your editorial in favor of the national popular vote did not even hint at any possible downside. Few bills are that perfect. There are a number of possible problems that supporters of this proposal should feel obliged to acknowledge and rebut. Is the Phoenix selling ideas or used cars?

Your assertion that this would make candidates campaign nationwide seems wrong. Sparsely populated states would be totally ignored, even if the race in that state is close. With all votes anywhere being the same, candidates will spend their time and money where voters are concentrated. A national popular-vote election will make the most populous states even more dominant, and the least populous states totally irrelevant. Our founding fathers were aware of this — it’s the main reason the Electoral College was created in the first place.

And what happens if the national vote is so close that a recount is necessary? Take the chaos that was Florida in 2000, and multiply by 50.

Not to mention that there is no mechanism in place to compel a national recount. Even if the states in this compact adopt uniform rules, there is no way to force the other states to follow them. Those states have their own laws as to when a recount can be made — and those laws concern the closeness of the vote within the state, not the national vote. Without a means of compelling a full national recount, a close national vote will always be suspect.

Our current system of electing presidents needs reform, but that should come from Congress, so that all states operate under the same rules. Simply replacing one form of state-by-state chaos with a different one isn’t going to fix things.

Joel Bernstein
Brookline

Best band gripes, pt. 59
Regarding your “50 States, 50 Bands” round-up, here’s my vote for best Minnesota solo artist: Brother Ali. [Note: the Phoenix selected Ali as best Wisconsin solo artist.] He may have been born in Wisconsin, but he grew up in Michigan, and started his career in Minneapolis. That sounds like a Minnesota artist to me. (If birthplace is your criteria, the Pixies are questionable as a Massachusetts band: Kim was born in Ohio, and Joey in the Philippines.) I’ll concede that Prince clearly beats Ali in the end, but I won’t concede Elliott Smith as a Nebraska artist: he’s Oregon all the way. Go ahead and pick Conor Oberst for Nebraska if you must.

As far as the Wisconsin solo artist who’d replace Brother Ali: oh, I don’t know, have you heard of this guy called Les Paul?

Fight song

BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:54:18 GMT

Letters to the Boston editor, July 25, 2008
Your total inability to recognize deserving candidates has me . . . amused?

Obviously you relished the idea of everyone getting up in arms over your “50 States, 50 Bands” selections. I don’t feel angry or upset or ready to start a flame war over it. Rather, your total inability to recognize deserving candidates has me . . . amused?

No disrespect to Ketman, Velvet Underground, Mary J. Blige, or the one and only Stevie Wonder. However, in your attempts to look “smart” and “aware,” you — in the cases of these four categories — completely neglected the most deserving candidates.

I fully expected the Dresden Dolls to be named the best new band from Massachusetts. They’re the finest Boston act of this decade, certainly the most creative and original. You guys in particular have rightfully championed the Dolls for so long that this seemed as obvious as the outcome to a Hulk Hogan title defense.

I have nothing but respect for the work of Velvet Underground. But in terms of who is the best New York band of all time, come on. I know the Phoenix staff has never liked KISS very much, but please, don’t pull a Rolling Stone and show complete ignorance to what makes KISS iconic in the first place. Countless bands and solo artists of the past three decades have pointed to Gene, Paul, and the boys as a primary inspiration and influence.

While some may say Afrika Bambaataa wasn’t exactly a “solo artist,” given some of his work with the Soulsonic Force and Zulu Nation over the years, he is nevertheless the unquestioned Godfather of Rap and a living testament to the endurance of hip-hop, and should have won this category for New York. There would have been no N.W.A, no Jay-Z, no Tupac, and no Biggie had Baambaataa not spent so many years looking for the perfect beat. I’m sure even Mary J. Blige would agree that putting her ahead of this immortal is a bit ridiculous.

Stevie Wonder’s credentials are beyond reproach. However, to deny the fact that Madonna Louise Ciccone is the biggest musical name to ever come out of Michigan, having a career spanning 25 years, entirely spent as a worldwide chart-topping superstar . . . seriously guys, really? Couldn’t you have let the readers decide the all-time best solo artist from Michigan? At this rate, I was half-expecting you guys to pass over the Stooges in favor of Insane Clown Posse. Damn, did you miss the mark on some of these.

Papa don't preach

BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:20:26 GMT

Letters to the Boston editor, July 18, 2008
The total “wake-up call” is the promotion of father-less-ness in our great land and the effects it is having on society.

To me, the two most important lines in the Phoenix editorial “As goes Gloucester?” are: “Was there even a dad?” and “Rather than stick her head in the sand, Mayor Kirk could have issued a wake-up call. Someone should.”

The total “wake-up call” is the promotion of father-less-ness in our great land and the effects it is having on society. There is a never-ending cycle in this country of young girls having babies and raising them without dads, as probably the children of Gloucester will be. Studies have demonstrated that children raised without fathers are far more likely to have early sexual encounters and to get pregnant at earlier ages. That is just one of the symptoms of this societal problem; there are many more.

So what is the answer? Part of it is to create incentives to bring fathers back into kids’ lives. Currently, Title IV-D of the Social Security Act actually has perverse incentives for single motherhood and for the elimination of fathers from children’s lives. Only six states have adopted equal Shared Parenting laws, so that post separation and divorce, parents, mainly fathers, if fit, could have an equal right to raise their children. The legislature in Massachusetts, specifically the Judiciary Committee, once again buried the bill into study, the nice name for killing a bill.

We need to follow the example of Erie County, New York: enact incentive tax credits to help noncustodial parents, and create reunification programs for fathers. We need to change the Title IV-D incentives. We need to adopt equal Shared Parenting laws for fit parents. We need to reform the Family and Probate courts in our state and around the country to lift the barriers to fatherhood. If we start to do this, I can guarantee you, the rates of teen pregnancy will drop. We will no longer have to ask the question, “Was there even a dad?” We do know there is always a dad, we just have to help them to stay around, for their kids’ sake.

Dr. Peter G. Hill
Boston

Anyone familiar with Gloucester and the dominant role of the Catholic Church in the community can imagine the pressure the Church put on Principal Sullivan to back off his statement about a pregnancy pact. Discrediting the principal’s statement was critical to turning attention away from the lack of sex education and availability of birth control.

Arnold Koch
Melrose

Muzzle mania

BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:08:56 GMT

Letters to the Boston editor, July 11, 2008
Giving a Muzzle Award to the Boston Police Department for its handling of Veterans Day protesters is in keeping with widespread media complicity that allows lower ranks to be court-martialed while war criminals in the White House escape accountability for Abu Ghraib.

Giving a Muzzle Award to the Boston Police Department for its handling of Veterans Day protesters is in keeping with widespread media complicity that allows lower ranks to be court-martialed while war criminals in the White House escape accountability for Abu Ghraib. The award rightfully belongs to Mayor Menino and the majority of the Boston political establishment, i.e., Representative Stephen Lynch, Senator Jack Hart, City Council President Maureen Flaherty, et al., for cleverly “outsourcing” punishment of misconduct at various holiday community events to escape accountability for political decisions. Instead, the powers that be use cat’s-paws such as the American Legion and the Allied War Veterans.

I was the appointed spokesperson for Veterans for Peace and met with the BPD’s superintendent, Daniel Linsky, with respect to the 2007 Veterans Day ceremony conducted on City Hall Plaza. Linsky provided ample security during the parade and at the ceremony.

We were in fact interfering with the conduct of the observance, standing on stage gagged and holding signs. The police captain charged with security asked us three times to stand down, and when we refused, he clearly had no option other than to arrest us.

It is my opinion that, given the passions of many participants, we were handled as neatly as possible at all times. The majority of those 18 arrested was seniors, and was, for the most part, handled as such. It has also been my experience that, at other events in previous years, Veterans for Peace has not been denied freedom of expression by the BPD, but very cutely has been by the political establishment and the American Legion, the latter of whom has vigorously blocked protest against the war at the dictate of a renegade political administration.

Indeed, the BPD allowed us to march in 2003, and, as a consequence, was sued by the Allied War Veterans — successfully, of course, through decisions made by a Supreme Court responsible for the rupture in constitutional rights. The media would find far greater culpability for the denial of personal liberty were they to examine the process of outsourcing these events at substantial cost to the taxpayer.

Ignorance of the history of these affairs or failure to dig a little deeper unfortunately means that those least responsible are usually “fucked.” (“One man’s vulgarity is another’s lyric” — Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan.) In this case, I believe it to be so for the BPD and Veterans for Peace — and who knows what will happen this year. Otherwise, kudos to the Phoenix, perhaps the only voice we have among the neutered media acolytes.

Victory at last

BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:27:56 GMT

Letters to the Boston editor, June 27, 2008
It may at first seem like hyperbole for Harvey Silverglate to call the Boumediene decision the most important of his lifetime. But it is important to acknowledge how deeply surreal and atavistic these cases have become.

Thanks for a fabulous and important essay. It may at first seem like hyperbole for Harvey Silverglate to call the Boumediene decision the most important of his lifetime. But it is important to acknowledge how deeply surreal and atavistic these cases have become. It is interesting that in many of the endlessly cited precedents — ex parte Quirin, Eisentrager, et al. — military tribunals have been used to expedite trials. Here, there seems to be no desire to expedite anything. Guantánamo is about delay. Taking it back to the Magna Carta is absolutely correct. I keep thinking of the oubliette — adored by the French kings — a way to essentially hold people forever without doing anything.

Great essay.

Errol Morris
Cambridge

Bravo and gratitude to you for publishing Harvey Silverglate’s recent column explaining the significance of the Supreme Court’s decision on Boumediene, the Guantánamo prisoner who is seeking that basic right we all assume is ours, a day in a court of law. I’m sending the column around to everyone I know because it explains so clearly what is at stake in the struggle to save that most fundamental constitutional right of habeas corpus. In the absence of civics and decent newspapers, there is a dearth of comprehension of how far down the tubes the American project has gone and what we have to do to rescue it. Most important, Silverglate explains it all to the common person so we have the tools we need to preserve our shredding democracy.

Nancy Ryan
Cambridge

EDITOR’S NOTE Nancy Ryan is president of the Board of Directors of the ACLU of Massachusetts, on which Silverglate also serves.

Off-kilter axis
Congratulations on an intelligent, well-written analysis on the lead-up and media coverage of the potential war with Iran. After eight years, many Americans realize that the Axis of Evil is not Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. The Axis of Evil is actually George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) neocons. Thanks for the news and for quoting Glenn Greenwald. He is, in my opinion, the sharpest political columnist out there, both in print and in the blogosphere.

John Buster
Cambridge

Betrayal, not brain drain
The Phoenix’s “Intelligence Deficit” editorial takes the Iraq War deception by President Bush to a standard Bush wants the press to use: intelligence deficiencies. All of the press is forgetting that Hans Blix, the chief UN arms inspector, took his international team to each and every one of the sites that Colin Powell later claimed in his speech to the United Nations had weapons of mass destruction. The UN team found zero such weapons at each of these sites. And when Blix, as a courtesy to Bush, took his report to the White House, Vice-President Cheney told Blix, “We do not care what your report says, we are going to attack.”

Willful imprisonment

BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:33:05 GMT

Letters to the Boston editor, June 20, 2008

We would like to thank and congratulate Jeff Inglis for his vivid and thoughtful account of a night spent in the replica Guantánamo cell that was placed in Portland’s Monument Square for three days earlier in June. Our two organizations, Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union, have been working hard to document how detainees have been treated at Guantánamo. The US Supreme Court has now reaffirmed, in the case of Boumediene v. Bush, the age-old, fundamental right of habeas corpus. In America, those detained should receive a fair and neutral hearing, learn the specific reason for their detention, and be able to challenge it in a court of law. Inglis’s reporting reminds us why all Americans need to stand up for our fundamental values and the rule of law, not only in times of peace and prosperity, but also in times of war and crisis.

Shenna Bellows
Executive Director
Maine Civil Liberties Union

Joshua Rubenstein
Northeast Regional Director
Amnesty International USA

Gold ahead
Should President Bush go to Beijing? Absolutely. You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. If we treat China with respect, we can push it gradually in the right direction. If we show disrespect for China, it will resent us and disregard our advice. By showing that America is a true friend of China, President Bush will make that country’s government less fearful of domestic reformers and criticism from abroad. His trip will give democracy advocates a helping hand.

Simon Tuchman
Waltham

Don’t have a cow
I was truly disappointed to see the June 6 cover story, “Where’s the Beef?” In an age when we are advocating for an end to the war, world peace, clean water and air, more organic and non-genetically-modified foods, less use of fossil fuels, and recycling, it seems to me that we have little time to waste on finding the top 10 steak-house hot spots in Boston.

I have usually enjoyed the Phoenix for being a hip, upbeat, and alternative newspaper. But this article leaves me feeling irritated and infuriated. Even more vexing is the fact that the author, MC Slim JB, acknowledges how socially irresponsible it is to support the meat industry and factory farming.

Spreading awareness is what newspapers do best. However, awareness should inspire conscious change and positive action in the community. Raising animals for food consumption is completely wasteful, toxic, and inefficient. The amount of land it takes to feed one carnivore can feed 20 vegetarians. The grains used to feed American livestock alone could feed the one billion people who are starving.